Item #: SCP-232
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-232 is to be kept in a locked safe in the Cognitohazard wing of Site 73. When not in use for testing, its batteries are to be removed. When batteries are not installed, SCP-232 may be handled safely by any authorized staff member. The Foundation is to monitor online auction houses and dealers of vintage toys, and acquire any products of the same model as SCP-232 for testing and disposal. Any other instances of SCP-232 discovered are to be archived appropriately.
When batteries are installed, personnel other than D-Class are not to handle SCP-232 for any period longer than necessary to install and remove batteries. Staff members who have been exposed to works in the Jack Proton franchise, in any format, are not to handle SCP-232 for any period of time while batteries are installed. D-Class carrying SCP-232 for testing purposes are to be monitored at all times and terminated if SCP-232-related behavior should pose a security risk.
The copyright, publication, and merchandising rights of the Jack Proton novels and all spinoff media are to be held by Springfield Crown Publishing, a Foundation front company, for the purpose of keeping the works out of print, thereby preventing activation of anomalous properties in any SCP-232 instances that may exist outside containment. In the event of any public occurrences of SCP-232 behavior, the Foundation shall liaise with local law enforcement authorities to recover the artifact and issue Class-A amnestics to affected parties as appropriate. The Foundation shall encourage world governments to enact extensions to international copyright law as necessary to prevent the Jack Proton franchise from lapsing into the public domain; in the event that any Jack Proton franchise material becomes public domain, DDoS techniques and/or mass deployment of Class-E amnestics is authorized as appropriate.
Description: SCP-232 is a mass-produced children's toy of early 1950s manufacture, composed primarily of tin and a battery-powered electric light apparatus, with an exterior painted to resemble a laser gun of the type featured in popular science fiction of the early 20th century. A hinged section at the base of SCP-232's handle opens to accept two standard AA alkaline batteries. When batteries have been installed correctly and the trigger is pulled, a small red electric light in the barrel lights up. SCP-232's cognition-affecting properties become active whenever SCP-232 is picked up and held or carried by a human being while it has working batteries installed.
Within 5-30 seconds of picking up SCP-232, the person handling it will begin speaking in English, regardless of any previous fluency with the language or lack thereof, in a manner resembling the speech patterns of pre-teen and/or adolescent American youth culture circa 1920-1960. Persons so affected will deny that anything is unusual about their manner of speech and will insist that they have always spoken thusly. This behavior continues until approximately 15-20 seconds after the test subject is induced to relinquish possession of SCP-232, after which speech patterns return to normal. In test subjects that have had no exposure to any works from the Jack Proton franchise, SCP-232's effects do not continue past this stage and the subject retains no memory of their behavior while under its influence.
Patent information embossed on the handle of SCP-232, and historical analysis of non-anomalous artifacts identical in appearance, indicate that SCP-232 is a mass-produced "Atomic Zapper" toy, produced by the [REDACTED] corporation from 1953 to 1958 as a licensed merchandising tie-in to "Jack Proton - Space Cop", a series of young adult science fiction novels by American author M.K. Snyder. Approximately █████ units were manufactured and sold during the toy's production run, of which an unknown quantity remain in existence today. The Foundation has acquired 138 units since containment of SCP-232 began, all but three of which have shown no anomalous properties under testing. Thorough examination has indicated no discernable differences between anomalous and non-anomalous units.
